


I can’t Fix it, but I can Try

by HeyGoodLookin



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 06:13:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13583979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeyGoodLookin/pseuds/HeyGoodLookin
Summary: Ted's being a full time jerk. Mike has a hard time dealing with it. Eleven comes to the rescue.





	I can’t Fix it, but I can Try

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my first ever fic so please enjoy and hope it's not too iffy. It's been a while since I've written much of anything so... here's hoping! Thanks all :) xo

 

“Dad! Why are you making such a big deal out of this?” Mike could feel his temper starting to boil over. His mother watched the scene unfold from the kitchen, trying to interject every once in a while, but failing miserably. When the two of them got to fighting, which happened often, there was no getting a word in edgewise. 

“Because no son of mine is joining a damn choir!” 

“ _Language!”_ Mike imitated his father’s monotone voice. 

“Don’t you mock me, kid. I’ve had it up to here with this. If you’re not getting beat up at school, you’re joining all kinds of weird science clubs and playing board games with your friends,”

“It’s Dungeons and Dragons. It’s not just a game, it takes strategy and campaigns and—“

“And I don’t care, Mike! You’re a walking target. You need to toughen up and join a sports team instead of a choir!”

“I like to sing! Our director asked me to join and I want to!”

“Well, I’m not allowing it! It’s bad enough you don’t fight back. You need to be a real man!” 

“What the hell does that even mean?” Mike felt himself shake with rage. 

“Learn how to fight! Stand up for yourself!”

“You’re joking, right? Tell me he’s joking mom! So what, being a man means throwing punches and sitting in a lazy-boy all day? Ignoring your wife and bullying your kids every chance you get?”

“MICHAEL! Don't you DARE talk to me like that! I PROVIDE FOR THIS FAMILY AND KEEP A ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD AND—“

“AND YOU DON’T EVEN TRY TO UNDERSTAND ME!” Mike yelled, interrupting his father’s rage. He could feel tears threatening to fall. 

“You’re joining a sports team and that’s final. End of discussion.” Ted fell back into his lazy-boy and swore under his breath. 

“I’m joining _choir_ and I don’t give a shit what you think,” said Mike, wiping tears away hurriedly as he stormed past his mother and made his way up the stairs to his room. “This is bullshit,” he said under his breath, slamming the door shut behind him. 

 

****

 

“Mike?” 

 _Eleven_. Mike thought, reaching for his super-com. Closing his eyes for a moment in an effort to collect himself. 

“Hey, El. Over,” his voice cracked, giving himself away already. _Damn it all to hell,_ Mike mentally cursed. 

“What’s wrong? Over.” Mike could hear her concern instantaneously. 

“Nothing’s wrong, El. I’m just tired. Over.” 

“Lying. Over.” Eleven’s voice came strong. Mike sighed, trying to work out what to say and what to leave out.

“My dad,” he paused, “We had another fight. Over.” 

“Was it bad? Are you ok? Over.” 

“I’m fine. Just a bit shaken up. Don’t worry. Over.” 

A silence. 

“I’m sorry. Over.” El’s voice sounded small. Already, Mike felt guilt wash over him. The last thing he wanted was to worry Eleven. 

“Don’t be sorry, El. I’m fine. Really.” his voice cracked again as he tried to keep his tears at bay. “Over.” 

“Miss you. Over.” 

“Miss you too. Hey, maybe I can convince the chief to let me visit you tomorrow? Over.” 

“Not soon enough. Over.” She didn’t leave any room for debate.

“El? What’re doing?” Mike waited for a moment. “El?” Again, no response. The teenager groaned in frustration and collapsed onto his bed. He rubbed his temples and shook himself, trying to snap out of it. _You need to be more of a man, Mike._ He couldn’t get his father’s belittling voice out of his head. He didn’t know how long he sat there, his parents’ arguing growing louder and louder from downstairs. He felt tears fall— at first a few and then a downpour. He was about to gather up his things and bike over to Dustin’s (as was his custom, when things got too out of hand) when he heard a tap at his window. 

_tip tip tip_

Mike jumped, startled. Again, he heard it. 

_tip tip tip_

The teenager looked up and was shocked to see Eleven, clutching the drain pipe and tapping on his window. Instantly, he ran over and opened the window, completely forgetting to wipe away his tears. Mike held out his hand and helped her into his room, narrowly avoiding crashing into his science fair display and choir folder, the book “classical technique for the young baritone: a scientific approach” lying open on a music stand along with a copy of On the Street Where You Live.  

“El, what’re you doing here?” Mike hissed, closing the window as quietly as he could. “Did you walk all the way here?”

“Yes,” Eleven answered, looking at the back of Mike’s head before he turned around. 

“Why? You know you’re not supposed to leave!” Mike was finding it increasing difficult to keep his voice down. 

“I know. But you needed me,” 

“I’m ok, El,” the boy sighed, taking her hand. 

“You’re shaking,” El said. 

“It’s nothing,” Mike looked down at his feet. 

“It’s not nothing,” El squeezed his hands, “Friends don’t lie.”

“It’s just not…” Mike’s voice trailed off, trying to find the right words, “it’s just not something I want you worrying about. You have enough to worry about. You don’t need my problems on top of everything else and—“

“Stupid,” El interrupted, forcing Mike to make eye contact. 

“What?” Mike seemed genuinely surprised. 

“You’re being stupid. I came because you need me right now. I needed you before and you came. Now you need me,” El said, putting her hand on Mike’s cheek. 

“Ok,” he didn’t know what else to say. It was as if the roles were reversed and now Mike was at a loss for words instead of Eleven. He was still shocked by her ability to form full sentences with relative ease. 

“You’re sad and I want you to be happy. I can’t fix it but I can try,” 

“Just you being here is helping,” Mike said, smiling down at her. 

“That’s why I came,” Eleven said. The pair looked at each other for a moment, before moving over to sit on the edge of the boy’s bed. In their silence, they could hear Karen and Ted shouting from downstairs. _You’re just making everything worse, Ted. For Christ’s sake, Karen, the boy needs to toughen up. He’s sensitive, Ted. You can’t fault him for something he can’t control. He needs to learn how to fight back and stop acting like a princess. And don’t even get me started about his friends— what, a queer and two geeks. He’s asking for it. Ted!_ Karen’s voice came stronger. _How can you say that? You’ve never been a proper father to him._

Eleven frowned as she saw Mike tense up. He looked close to tears.

“Asshole,” said Eleven, simply. 

“What?” Mike looked at the girl, shocked. “Where’d you learn that word?”

“Hopper,” she grinned, “He said Billy’s an asshole.” 

“Well, he is,” 

“So is your dad,” Eleven said. 

“Yeah,” Mike looked down again. He felt too small.

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Mike,” 

“He did want me joining choir. He said only sissies joined choir and I needed to join a sports team,” 

“Stupid,” Eleven said, again. “What’s choir?” 

“Oh!” Mike pointed at his music stand. “It’s when a bunch of people sing together at the same time. It’s like band, only with singing. Dustin’s taking band. He’s playing euphonium. That’s like a small tuba,” 

“Ok,” Eleven replied, still a little confused. “But you’re in choir?”

“Yeah. The choir director asked me to join because she needed more male voices and I can sing kinda low. Baritone. Like, in between.” 

“Bar—i—tone,” she sounded out the word, eyes traveling to the book on his music stand. “Class—i—cal?” 

“Yeah! Classical. It’s like, a musical genre. So, you know how Hopper likes country records right? And Johnathan like punk? Well, in choir you sing classical stuff. It’s not bad. It’s actually cool,” Mike explained. “But my dad got really pissed off. I swear, he hates my guts,”

“Just doesn’t understand,” said Eleven. 

“I dunno. I can never do anything right for him. I feel like I’ve spent half my life fighting with him and the other half trying to gain his approval,” he stopped talking as Ted and Karen’s shouting became even more amplified. It sounded like they were in the landing rather than the kitchen. “I can’t stand them fighting all the time,” 

“Listen to me, not them,” Eleven said, putting both of her hands on Mike’s face, forcing him to make eye contact. “Maybe Hopper will let you stay with us tomorrow night,” 

“Maybe,” Mike’s eyes lit up at the thought. He knew it was a long shot but he also knew that despite his gruff exterior, the chief had a big heart. 

_If you all hate me so much, why don’t I just leave! Ted, why don’t you just listen to reason for once? Your children don’t hate you, they just don’t know you. Oh, wake up and smell the coffee, Karen. This situation has been going on long enough. And this marriage, if you can call it that, isn’t working out either. I’m driving over to my brother’s for the night. I’ll be back tomorrow to get my things. No! Ted! You can’t do this! I can’t support— Well you should have thought of that before, huh? I’m filing for divorce, Karen. You’re on your own now. Have fun raising three kids!_

The front door to the Wheeler house slammed shut. It was as if the sound triggered something in Mike. He looked at Eleven for a fraction of a second before falling off the edge of the bed into a ball, slowly rocking himself back and forth, his breath coming in gasps. 

“Mike…” the girl sat down on the floor beside him. “Tell me what to do,” 

“Just—“ Mike gasped for air again, face in his hands, “Just stay here,” 

“Not going anywhere,” Eleven slowly reached her hand over to Mike’s back. She rubbed comforting circles around his shoulder blades, the way he did when she’d get upset. When she felt him relax under her touch, she stretched both arms around him and forced him into a hug. He stiffened at first, mostly out of shock, but soon felt himself relax in her arms. He wrapped his own limbs around her torso and held on tight, crying freely. 

“Don’t go,” Mike managed, voice cracking slightly. 

“Not going anywhere,” Eleven repeated. “Promise,” Before she could continue, they heard a knock at Mike’s bedroom door. Fearing it was Karen, they broke apart. The door opened slightly, revealing little Holly. Eyes red from crying, clutching her blanket close to her. 

“Daddy left?” She said, between sobs. 

“Yeah, Holly,” Mike tried to compose himself. “Yeah, he did.” 

“Stay with you?” Holly inched her way into the room. 

“Of course,” Eleven answered, getting up off the ground. She closed the door behind Holly. Mike watched in amazement, as Eleven guided his little sister over to his bed. Holly, in turn, embraced her fiercely. 

“Mommy crying,” said the toddler, crying into Eleven’s sweater. 

“She’s sad. Lonely. Heartbreaking. No,” Eleven furrowed her brow in concentration. “Heartbroken. She is heartbroken,” 

Downstairs they could hear Nancy trying to console her mother, probably over ice cream. _He’s never been a father to us, Mom. We’re better off without him._

“El?” Mike got up and moved onto the bed where Eleven was tucking in Holly, as if running on instinct. 

“Mike?” she looked up at him. 

“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Mike said, reaching for her hands again. They ended up on either side of Holly, holding hands over her as she slowly fell asleep between them. 

“Mike?” 

“Hmm?” the teenager replied, drowsily. 

“You’re a—maz—ing,” Eleven sounded out the word, slowly. Mike smiled from ear to ear. 

“So are you, El. Amazing.” The pair looked at each other one last time before finally falling asleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! Hope you enjoyed. Please let me know what you thought and if you'd like to hear more from me. I really enjoyed getting back into writing! xoxo


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